24
by S.L. Stevens
Summary: New Years Eve, CTU Los Angeles Director Tony Almeida recieves information about a possible hit on Los Angeles by midnight, with not one lead to go by. R/R In Progress, new chapters added Mon's and Fri's
1. Introduction

Introduction:  
  
When I decided to do a fan-fic about "24", I knew it had to be good. It couldn't be rushed, and it couldn't be done unless thought out correctly. But due to circumstances, I am going to be away for 1-2 months and unable to write any more episodes-chapters. By the time I have to leave (in 1-2 weeks) I should have half the fan-fic finished. What I am going to do, is upload two episode-chapters a week until I leave. I really hope that you will add this story (or is it you add the authors?) to your favorites, so that when I return and upload a new episode-chapter, you'll be notified. Every Mondays and Fridays and new epichapter will be uploaded. I was going to upload this fanfic when it is finished, but that wouldn't be for a couple of months and I didn't want to do that. So I broke up the story into four quarters (you guessed it, four 6 hour quarters). The first quarter is already finished, and I am halfway through the second quarter. This is a risk, to upload now, in case I would have to go back to a previous epichapter. But I know the real writers make that same risk because they continue to film even after the first episode of "24" premiers. I feel I don't need to touch the first quarter, so I will start posting the epichapters now. Please, read every epichapter, though there will be a long pause between epichapters soon.  
  
Now, about the story.  
  
The follow "24" Fan Fic takes place between 6PM, December 31st, and 6PM January 1st. 


	2. 6:00 PM to 7:00 PM

-24- Shot of the 24 logo, ticking slowly then faster and faster. New shot, in gold lettering these words are shown, and read by Tony Almeida  
  
"The following takes place between the hours of 6:00 P.M. And 7:00 P.M."  
  
Cut to more words: "Events occur in real time."  
  
Cut to: You see the skyline to Tokyo, Japan, in the morning. Clock appears ticking silently at the bottom of screen, reads: 10:00:01 - 10:00:02 - 10:00:03  
  
Cut to warehouse, abandoned. The sun has brightened the place considerably, and we see a group of at least one hundred men and women wearing white robes sitting on their knees on the ground. It appears a ritual is underway, there is some ritualistic chanting among those praying, it is almost mesmerizing. Raised up higher than the rest, is a man wearing an all black robe, unlike the white that everyone else wore. Much like a Muslim woman's outfit, only the eyes were uncovered of the men and women. Three people wearing white walk up to the man wearing black and whisper in his ear, he nods. He walks into the back of the building, camera follows close behind. He opens a door and enters a room, nothing but a table in the middle.  
  
Man in black robe, in perfect American English - "Is the payload being delivered?"  
  
Man number 2 in white robe, in broken English - "Payload is being delivered, awaiting word from Hernandez."  
  
Man in black robe nods - "Good, let's get going."  
  
He walks out, closely followed by the other two.  
  
Cut to: Los Angeles skyline, night, clock appears at the bottom reads: 6:04:12 - 6:04:13 - 6:04:14 Cut to LAX airport, screen shows wheels of a 747 touching down. Split screen, on the left shows plane landing, on the right shows an Asian man waiting inside the airport.  
  
Cut to: A suburban home lit inside, piercing the darkness. The camera cuts to the inside, a man of about fifty-five is sitting in a chair reading a book. He is lean, he is in good shape for his age. Behind him we can see a Christmas tree, lights off but still decorated. His phone rings, he slowly gets up, not really wanting to answer it. Screen shot shows a close up of the man's hand picking up the receiver,  
  
He says - "Hello?"  
  
Voice on the other end is a man's voice, he says, "Is this Agent Herald Mann of NHSA?"  
  
Mann - "I guess, why?"  
  
Voice on other end - "This is Z."  
  
Dramatic music begins as Mann's face shows recognition.  
  
Mann - "I'm listening."  
  
Z - "I have something for you, if you are interested in a long night?"  
  
Mann - "Give it to me."  
  
Z - "Not over the phone. Guarantee me a safe internet connection within ten minutes and it's all yours."  
  
Mann - "Something to upload?"  
  
Z - "Yeah."  
  
Mann runs to his laptop, and fired it up while saying, "Stay on the line, I'll get back to you in a second."  
  
Mann switched lines and began to dial a number.  
  
Split screen: screen on left shows Mann on phone waiting, screen on right shows only a phone and a familiar ring tone as a woman picks it up.  
  
Woman - "CTU, Dessler." We see the woman's face now.  
  
Mann - "Michelle, I need a favor. You know who this is, I need you to secure my line. We've done this before, you know my IP status, I need you to do this right away."  
  
Screen shows just Michelle, a bit annoyed. She begins typing away on her computer. Another favor for NHSA, she rolls her eyes. Cut back to Mann, meanwhile, he switched back to the other line.  
  
Mann - "Z, preparing to receive information. What can you tell me?"  
  
Z - "Nothing to he with a weak heart." Mann sighs and switches back to the other line, which brings the split screen back, Michelle on the right.  
  
Mann - "Well?"  
  
Dessler - "All set Agent Mann, now Homeland Security owes CTU."  
  
He cut her off, switched lines and opened his Internet. His connection was now filtered and protected by a government agency.  
  
Mann - "All set to receive."  
  
Z - "Brace yourself, this is going to be fun. I'll call you at 2200 hours even, be there." Cut to black screen, clock ticks loudly - 6:11:45 - 6:11:46 - 6:11:47  
  
-24-  
  
Split screens: 3 One on the left shows Mann at his computer, watching as information is being uploaded. One in the middle shows back view of Mann at his computer, we see over his shoulder that an upload status bar is nearly complete. One on the far right shows the Asian man standing by the passenger let off.  
  
Clock in the middle ticks loudly: 6:15:52 - 6:15:53 - 6:15:54  
  
Cut to Mann, and we see over his shoulder that upload is complete. Dramatic music begins in the background as Mann plugs away at the keys. The camera sweeps around and we see a shot of Mann's intense expression over the laptop's cover. He is typing, and typing, until suddenly he stops. He looks dumbfounded.  
  
Mann - "Son of a bitch." He says it slowly and raises slowly. He begins to pace by his window and looks out. He checks his watch, grabs his laptop, the key around his key ring and runs out the door, laptop in hand, not locking the door.  
  
Cut to: LAX Airport  
  
Among a throng of people, a tall Asian man stands and looks around, people walking past him coming off the plane. He sees the other Asian, the one waiting for him, and smiles. They walk up to each other, embrace and walk off together.  
  
Cut to: a grocery store. We see a sign that says "Smart Mart" and it isn't in a very crowded area at all. In front of the store, a white van pulls up.  
  
Bottom of screen says in yellow lettering: Wellington Heights, California  
  
A man emerges now from the left side of the van, the door slides open. We see this man's boots, and the camera pans up to show his face. He appears Hispanic. He is wearing boots, jeans, and a white T-shirt.  
  
Split screen: one on the left shows security camera view of the man's entrance, screen on the right shows the camera following behind the man.  
  
The man nods at the clerk, and says in slightly broken English - "Use bathroom, amigo!"  
  
The clerk nods and smiles in the direction of the bathroom. Camera continues to follow the man from behind as he enters the bathroom. He then goes into the first stall and shuts the door. Now fast paced music begins playing as the man removes a silver cylinder from his pocket. It is a foot long, and flat. He unscrews it and removes a clear vial the size of the cylinder. Zoom in, we see an amber liquid. He puts the vial back into the cylinder and screws it back on. Now, we see he removes the top of the toilet, places that on the floor. Carefully, he places the cylinder into the toilet in a corner. He picks up the top, replaces it and flushes.  
  
Split screen, on the right we see him exit the stall from the front and on the left we see a view from behind his head. He exits the bathroom, nodding at the clerk and exiting the building. The camera follows him as he enters the van, takes out a cell phone from his pocket, unfolds it, hits a button and says,  
  
"It's a go."  
  
Cut to black screen, yellow clock in the middle ticks loudly 6:31:03 - 6:31:04 - 6:31:05  
  
-24-  
  
Split screens: 3  
  
Clock in the middle ticks loudly 6:35:22 - 6:35:23 - 6:35:24  
  
Left screen shows Mann in his car, from the dashboard. He is driving fast. Middle screen shows the two Asian men, each wheeling luggage towards the exit of LAX, and screen on the right shows shot from inside CTU Los Angeles. Cut to Mann driving. The shot we see is from the left, and we see on his passenger side, the laptop glowing blue. He pulls out his cell phone and dials. Screen splits now, left shows Mann on phone, right shows Michelle Dessler answering ringing phone.  
  
Dessler - "CTU, Dessler speaking."  
  
Mann - "Put me through to Almeida, now!"  
  
Dessler puts the phone down, hits a button and when she does this, yet another screen splits away. Mann on left, Dessler in the middle, and on the right is Tony Almeida picking up his phone.  
  
Almeida - "What?"  
  
Dessler - "Agent Mann from NHSA for you."  
  
Almeida - "Put him through."  
  
Screen in the middle, of Michelle, disappears, and now it is just two screen shots of Mann on the left driving, Tony on the right sitting at his desk.  
  
Mann - "I have something that will interest the CTU branch. This is high importance information. I have everything on a disk, and I am on my way to you now."  
  
Almeida - "What's this about?"  
  
Mann - "I can't tell you over the phone, man! I'll be with you in about fifteen minutes."  
  
Almeida - "Can't you give me something? Who should I contact, what's going on?"  
  
Mann - "Ah. Something big going down."  
  
Almeida - "When?"  
  
Mann - "Tonight."  
  
Cut to Asian men, they are loading luggage into a small blue car. Clock silently shows 6:42:04 - 6:42:05 - 6:42:06  
  
They enter the car, and begin speaking in their language. No subtitles. The driver starts the car and they pull out.  
  
Cut to a new sight. Desert, lined with more than a dozen huge radio telescopes pointed skyward. Yellow lettering says: "Arizona - Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Institute."  
  
Cut to inside of institute. Main room is littered with computer consoles, and there are six workers currently on duty. Suddenly, alarms start blaring everywhere. A man, named John Owens, jumps up and begins running to the wall console that is sounding.  
  
Owens - "Alright! Alright this is something!"  
  
Shot zooms in to the computer, and in red the words "Signal Detected" is blinking. Everyone begins scrambling to his or her consoles except Owens, he is remains at the main computer.  
  
Lisa Rodriguez from across the room - "John! Signal strength is really strong, appears to be coming from the North Western part of the sky. Working on the location. Someone contact Miller."  
  
John walks to a wall phone and dials two buttons, no doubt calling someone within the building. Split screen shows an older man on the right answer the phone.  
  
Owens - "Mr. Miller sir, we have a signal."  
  
Miller - "That's a bunch of bull! You do this to me every month, I swear I will cut funding!"  
  
Owens - "Listen! This can't be earthly!"  
  
Miller - "We'll see about that won't we?"  
  
Clock shows 6:48:19 - 6:48:20 - 6:48:21  
  
Cut to Asian men. One in passenger seat's phone rings. He answers first in Japanese, then says in English - "Yes sir?"  
  
Man on other line, English - "Everything is in place. Where are you?"  
  
Asian #2 - "Currently heading to first planned stop."  
  
Man on other line - "Contact me when there."  
  
Cut to SETI in Arizona  
  
Miller comes walking into control room.  
  
Miller - "What do we know?"  
  
Lisa Rodriguez, a woman in her mid forties, comes to him and says - "I got big news, sir. It appears this is an encrypted message!"  
  
Miller - What is that supposed to mean?  
  
Rodriguez - "Means that when we stop receiving the signal, or when the signal ends, we will have a digital coded message."  
  
Miller begins to take it seriously - "Ok, ok find out what it says. Listen up everyone, nothing leaves this room, nothing!"  
  
Rodriguez - "Do you think this is really from another world?"  
  
Miller - "I don't know, do I look like a frikken scientist? If it's a message, I can't imagine how, or how we'd understand it."  
  
Rodriguez - "From what I have been able to find out, it looks like it's coming from the North Western part of the sky sir, I have no idea how far away yet."  
  
Miller - "How long will the encryption take?"  
  
Rodriguez - "The signal, along with appearing to be encrypted, also seems to be winding down. Which means of course, that the signal will end when the message is delivered. In about five hours."  
  
Miller - "Five hours! Screw that! Make it faster."  
  
Cut to CTU, Tony Almeida walking down the stairs, heading to Michelle Dessler.  
  
Tony to Michelle - "Agent Mann is on his way, says he's got something important. Request clearance for him and get Chapelle on the line." Tony walks on.  
  
Cut to Mann, he is still driving. He is very close to his destination. He takes a right and we see the shot of his car driving past a road, only the camera stays sighted on the road as a dark van pulls out, seemingly waiting for Mann. Split screen, on the left shows Mann from dashboard camera, on the right shows dark van from outside front view. Cut to Mann, he looks in the rearview mirror, noticing the van. He is paranoid, and begins speeding up. The van continues to follow. Mann notices a red light ahead, and stops, van does too. A few moments later they continue, and the van continues to follow. Mann decides to try something, so he takes a right down a one way street, going the wrong way. The van does also, and Mann knows he's in trouble. Dramatic fast paced music begins as Mann steps on the gas, so does the van. Outside shot shows the van speed up along side Mann's car and SMASH right into the side and forces it off the road and into a fence. The impact works in the favor of the driver of the van, because Mann smacks his forehead into the steering wheel and is dazed. Four armed men wearing black uniforms jump out of the van and the lead man grabs Mann's door handle and pulls it open, and grabs the dazed Herald Mann by the shirt, throws him to the ground the camera cuts to a view from behind the lead man from the van. We see Mann kneeling on the ground, and the dark suited man aim the rifle above Mann's head. Close up of the assassin's hand as he pulls the trigger. Mann falls to the ground, we see a little blood. He is dead. The other men grab Mann's computer and another gets behind the wheel of Mann's car and backs out of the fence. The car is only slightly damaged from the fence, but there is a large dent from the run off.  
  
Cut to split screens, 3, on the far left we see the Asian men in their car, in the middle we see Owens from SETI staring at a computer, one on the far right shows a shot of Almeida preparing a file, placing papers in it. Cut to the first man, that assassinated Mann, he has in his hand the desk with all the information Mann was bringing to CTU. He flips it in his hand and then sticks it in his pocket.  
  
Cut to black screen, gold clock ticks loudly in the middle  
  
6:59:57  
  
6:59:58  
  
6:59:59  
  
7:00:00  
  
Next week on "24" -  
  
Screen shows Ryan Chappelle on the phone with Tony Almeida  
  
Chappelle - "We got word that the plan landed about an hour ago at L-A-X, one of the names matches that of an international fugitive."  
  
Tony - "Pretty daring of him, don't you think?"  
  
Chappelle - "Not the first time."  
  
Cut to Asian men in car, they are driving and the shots shows only briefly enough to see that they are stopping outside of a small shop.  
  
Cut to Tony Almeida, he is in his office, on the phone. We hear the other line of his phone. It's a ring tone. Then another. Then another.  
  
-24- 


	3. 7:00 PM to 8:00 PM

-24-  
  
Shot of the gold digital 24 logo, ticking slowly then faster and faster.  
  
Cut to gold writing, black screen, says "Previously on 24", read by Tony Almeida  
  
Cut to Mann answers phone, says - "Hello?"  
  
Screen splits in half, shows Mann on the phone on the left, on the right has the name "Agent Herald Man" in the middle of the black half of split screen.  
  
Voice on the other end is a man's voice, he says, "Is this Agent Herald Mann of NHSA?"  
  
Mann - "I guess, why?"  
  
Voice on other end - "This is Z."  
  
Dramatic music begins as Mann's face shows recognition.  
  
Mann - "I'm listening."  
  
Z - "I have something for you, if you are interested in a long night?"  
  
Mann - "Give it to me."  
  
Cut to Michelle, answering ringing phone - "CTU, Dessler speaking." Screen splits again to show "Agent Michele Dessler" on right side.  
  
Mann - "Put me through to Almeida, now!"  
  
Dessler puts the phone down, hits a button and when she does this, yet another screen splits away. Mann on left, Dessler in the middle, and on the right is Tony Almeida picking up his phone.  
  
Almeida - "What?"  
  
Dessler - "Agent Mann from NHSA for you."  
  
Almeida - "Put him through."  
  
Screen splits again to show the name "Agent Tony Almeida" on right side.  
  
Mann - "I have something that will interest the CTU branch. This is high importance information. I have everything on a disk, and I am on my way to you now."  
  
Almeida - "What's this about?"  
  
Mann - "I can't tell you over the phone, man! I'll be with you in about fifteen minutes."  
  
Almeida - "Can't you give me something? Who should I contact, what's going on?"  
  
Mann - "Ah. Something big going down."  
  
Almeida - "When?"  
  
Mann - "Tonight."  
  
Cut to full screen of Hispanic man in bathroom stall, the man removes a silver cylinder from his pocket. It is a foot long, and flat. He unscrews it and removes a clear vial the size of the cylinder. Zoom in, we see an amber liquid. He puts the vial back into the cylinder and screws it back on. Now, we see he removes the top of the toilet, places that on the floor. Carefully, he places the cylinder into the toilet in a corner.  
  
Cut to SETI in Arizona, the scene where the alarms go off. Screen splits to show John Owens, and his name is on the right side  
  
Owens - "Alright! Alright this is something!"  
  
Shot zooms in to the computer, and in red the words "Signal Detected" is blinking. Everyone begins scrambling to his or her consoles except Owens, he is remains at the main computer.  
  
Lisa Rodriguez from across the room - "John! Signal strength is really strong, appears to be coming from the North Western part of the sky. Working on the location. Someone contact Miller."  
  
Cut to the black van forcing agent Mann off the road. Cut to assassin pulling Mann out and pulling the trigger. Next shot he has in his hand the disc with all the information Mann was bringing to CTU. He flips it in his hand and then sticks it in his pocket.  
  
Cut to black screen, in gold it says the following, also read by Tony Almeida:  
  
"The following takes place between the hours of 7:00 P.M. and 8:00 P.M."  
  
Cut to assassin #1, who killed Mann, he gets behind the wheel of the van, and waits for the other man to drive away with Mann's car. As soon as he does, assassin #1 takes out his cell phone and dials. After a moment,  
  
Assassin #1 - "Yeah he's dead. Yes I have it with me. Right away."  
  
He shuts the phone off, and puts the van in gear and drives away.  
  
Cut to CTU, Tony Almeida's phone is ringing. He bursts through the door to his office and grabs the phone.  
  
Tony - "Almeida."  
  
Screen splits to show Ryan Chappelle on the right, leaning in his chair looking at a file.  
  
Chappelle - "Heads up, guess what?"  
  
Almeida looks busy - "What?"  
  
Chappelle - "I'm sending you a full passenger list of an Asia Air flight from Tokyo to Los Angeles. One hundred and eighty on board, and one of them doesn't match up."  
  
Over Tony's shoulder, his computer seemingly comes to life as the passenger list is uploaded.  
  
Tony - "What's up?"  
  
Chappelle - "We got word that the plan landed about an hour ago at L-A-X, one of the names matches that of an international fugitive."  
  
Tony - "Pretty daring of him, don't you think?"  
  
Chappelle - "Not the first time. Izumi Masatoshi, age thirty. I want you to find out why he was on that plane, I want you to find out why he is in Los Angeles, then I want you to find him. Get some men out in the field, I don't like it."  
  
Tony - "What's his crime?"  
  
Chappelle - "Attempted murder of a co-worker at a chemical weapons lab."  
  
Tony - "Scientist?"  
  
Chappelle - "You guessed it."  
  
Tony - "What is a rogue Japanese scientist doing sneaking into America?"  
  
Chappelle - "Exactly. This guy isn't exactly an illegal either. In fact, he is an American citizen, also helped him get way past customs before being found out, by then it was too late. Find out whatever you can about him, and like I said, get some people out looking for him."  
  
They hang up.  
  
Cut to SETI in Arizona, control room. The scene shows Lisa Rodriguez walk up behind John Owens.  
  
Rodriguez - "I just talked to Miller, he's thinking about whether or not to go public now."  
  
Owens' head quickly snaps back in alarm - "What! That's stupid!"  
  
Rodriguez - "I know. I think you should talk to him."  
  
Owens sits for three seconds thinking, then he shakes his head and gets up, walking away.  
  
Cut to Tony, he is walking apparently to the exit of CTU, to the parking garage. He looks at his watch, shakes his head in disapproval. He stops just before the exit, bangs a fist lightly against the wall and pulls out his cell and hits a button. We hear that there is no answer after five rings, and Tony slams his phone shut. He adjusts his tie, thinking. He has too much to do to mess around with Mann, he decides. He turns around and heads back.  
  
Cut to black screen, gold clock ticks loudly 7:12:33 - 7:12:34 - 7:12:35  
  
-24-  
  
Split screens: 2 Tony Almeida on the left, on the phone, setting up CTU agents to search for this Japanese man. Screen on the right shows the two Japanese men in the small blue car. Clock in the middle ticks loudly 7:16:54 - 7:16:55 - 7:16:56  
  
Cut to CTU, Almeida hanging up the phone. Camera follows him out his office and down the stairs.  
  
Tony - "Alright, listen up," he smacks his hands real loud "we have a situation." A crowd begins to gather around him, camera has close up of Michelle.  
  
Tony - "Right now, we have a small operation going into effect, to help out local law enforcement in nabbing what could be a potential terrorist. Japanese scientist at large, landed at LAX over an hour ago. Somehow got past everyone. He needs to be caught, and no doubt when he is caught, he will be brought in here first. This has taken top priority for the moment, yet is not an out of control situation. That'll be all, get to work."  
  
The crowd disperses back to where they belong, except for Michelle, she walks up to Tony. Screen splits so we can see both expressions  
  
as Michelle whispers - "What's this about?"  
  
Tony - "Chappelle doesn't like the timing. Feels we need to nab this guy, and very soon. I called out a few dozen men to find him, but it won't be for another hour before they are fully prepared, of course they can be sped up but that's what we're looking at."  
  
Cut to small blue car, it stops outside of "Smart Mart" in Wellington Heights. Asian #2, the plane passenger, opens his door and steps out. Before shutting it though, Asian #1 calls Asian #2 by name: Izumi, and continues to say something in their native language. Izumi shakes his head yes, and shut the door. Camera follows behind as Izumi enters the store and walks past the clerk, nodding. Izumi knows where he's going it appears, he enters the bathroom. Screen splits, screen on the right shows the clerk, he begins to mop his floor, screen on left shows Izumi enter the first stall. Full screen now of Izumi, suspenseful music begins to play as he removes the top of the toilet and reaches in, pulling out the silver cylinder. He puts it inside his pocket and flushes the toilet. Camera shows him exit the bathroom, nod at the clerk and walk out the door, as the door shuts, the screen splits again. On the left we see Owens at SETI walking down a lightly lit corridor, on the right shows Izumi walking towards the car. Full screen shows Owens, at the end of the corridor knocking on an office door.  
  
From behind the door, we hear the cranky Miller - "What the hell do you want?"  
  
Owens - "Sir, I'd like a word with you."  
  
Miller - "Well I wouldn't, now get the hell out of here!"  
  
Owens enters the office, and sits despite Miller's look of disgust.  
  
Owens - "I'd like to suggest that you do not go public with this signal."  
  
Miller - "Who told you I was?"  
  
Owens pauses, and hesitates, then - "Oh, well I didn't um. Well I didn't know for sure if you were. Don't."  
  
Miller - "Don't do what?"  
  
Owens - "Go public."  
  
Miller - "Screw you kid. This is my big dream, this is my big chance. I might just be able to interrupt that weasel Prescott during his New Years Eve address. Wouldn't that be something?"  
  
Cut to little blue car, speeding in the other direction.  
  
Izumi, on cell phone, in Japanese but subtitles show what he is saying - "Payload delivered sir, awaiting my orders. Very well. Yes sir." He hangs up, and says something to the driver, yet we get no subtitles. Cut to loud ticking clock 7:39:21 - 7:39:22 - 7:39:23  
  
-24-  
  
Split screens: 4  
  
One on top left shows Almeida on the phone in his office, bottom left shows the Asian men driving still, on the top right shows Owens leaving Miller's office, and on the bottom right shows Assassin #1 driving the black van. Clock in dead center reads 7:44:03 - 7:44:04 - 7:44:05  
  
Cut to Assassin #1, he says to Assassin #2 - "Where is it?"  
  
#2 - "Not far from here, you know, next left and third house on the left."  
  
Outside shot shows van go exactly where was said.  
  
Cut to CTU, Tony's phone rings.  
  
Tony - "CTU, Almeida."  
  
Chappelle is on the other line - "Anything yet?"  
  
Tony - "No sir, I just got off the phone with Dickson, says they can't find a trace of the guy at LAX, but they are ready to analyze security footage, we should get something from that."  
  
Chappelle - "Too slow, what about away from LAX?"  
  
Tony - "Sir, they have no idea where to even begin to look, it's not like footprints in the sand here. What's the hurry?"  
  
Chappelle - "Well, think about it Almeida, New Years Eve, and we have an international fugitive with terrorist ties entering the United States without a care in the world."  
  
Tony - "I have thought about that."  
  
Chappelle - "That bastard needs to be caught, and before midnight."  
  
Tony - "I know. But how? What can the LAX security footage do other than tell us what direction this guy took after he got off the plane?"  
  
Chappelle - "Probably nothing. We need a better trained agent out there other than Dickson. We need a frikkin' bounty hunter out there. Got anyone in mind?"  
  
Tony pauses - "I might. I'll work on it." Screen splits and on the right we see the Assassins exit the van as they are parked in a suburban driveway. Now at full screen, Assassin #1 tells #2 to wait, as he goes up to the door and knocks four times. A young Hispanic woman peeks through the door, which is chained locked. She shouts back - "Juan, It's Joe!" and shuts the door. We hear footsteps as a Hispanic man, named Juan, holding a gun unlocks the door and opens it, signaling Joe the assassin to enter. He does. Door shuts.  
  
Juan - "Alright, give it to me."  
  
Joe - "What about my pay first?'  
  
Juan - "No, you get paid after I get the disc in my hands."  
  
Joe takes the disc from his pocket and flips it to Juan man, who catches it.  
  
Juan - "Good job. We now, with your help, have erased knowledge of the event. Now, if you'd like to double your money, we have another job for you."  
  
Joe - ".I'm listening."  
  
Cut to Asian men, they pull into a motel. It is an average dumpy Motel looking place. The car parks and they both exit. They walk slowly up to the third door on the bottom level and knock. Another Asian man opens the door, and they all embrace. Camera follows them inside and we see that there is not only one other Japanese man, but a total of ten sitting around, standing, everywhere. Fast pace music begins as the screens split up into 3. Current shot stay on the far left, middle shows Tony Almeida on the phone and the one on the right shows someone's phone ringing. Cut to full screen, phone ringing. The shot is zoomed in close to the phone, nothing much is seen in the background. It rings a sixth time, then a seventh, then an eight. Screen splits again, Tony on the left, ringing phone on the right. Finally on the tenth ring, a hand grabs it real fast. Still zoomed in on the phone's base, we hear the voice of the man answering off screen.  
  
Man - "Hello?"  
  
Tony - "Jack?"  
  
Cut to black screen, clock loudly ticks  
  
7:59:58  
  
7:59:59  
  
8:00:00  
  
Next week on "24"  
  
Screen shows Jack's face, he isn't thrilled.  
  
Jack - "Tony. What do you want?"  
  
Tony - "I want you to come to CTU, I need to talk to you."  
  
Cut to Joe the Assassin, he is entering a door.  
  
Joe, whistles - "Wow, just come on in, right?"  
  
Cut to: we see a group of five friends, 2 women, 3 men, around a large crowd. A blonde white woman has her arm around a dark man, she says "Happy New Year."  
  
-24- 


	4. 8:00 PM to 9:00 PM

Shot of the gold digital 24 logo, ticking slowly then faster and faster.  
  
Cut to gold writing, black screen, says "Previously on 24", read by Tony Almeida  
  
Screen shows Ryan Chappelle leaning in his chair looking at a file, screen splits, on right side says "Agent Ryan Chappelle."  
  
Chappelle - "Heads up, guess what?"  
  
Almeida - "What?"  
  
Chappelle - "I'm sending you a full passenger list of an Asia Air flight from Tokyo to Los Angeles. One hundred and eighty on board, and one of them doesn't match up."  
  
Cut to Tony walking down the stairs to a gathering crowd, screen splits to show on right "Agent Tony Almeida"  
  
Tony - "Alright, listen up," he smacks his hands real loud "we have a situation." A crowd begins to gather around him, camera has close up of Michelle.  
  
Tony - "Right now, we have a small operation going into effect, to help out local law enforcement in nabbing what could be a potential terrorist. Japanese scientist at large, landed at LAX over an hour ago. Somehow got past everyone. He needs to be caught, and no doubt when he is caught, he will be brought in here first."  
  
Cut to Asian man walking into Smart Mart, camera shows his face and the screen splits, right side says "Izumi Masatoshi." Shot shows him enter the stall, open the toilet top and removes the cylinder.  
  
Cut to Izumi and his partner entering motel room, camera pans inside to reveal ten more Asian men inside the room.  
  
Cut to CTU, the shot is zoomed in close to the phone, nothing much is seen in the background. It rings a sixth time, then a seventh, then an eight. Screen splits again, Tony on the left, ringing phone on the right. Finally on the tenth ring, a hand grabs it real fast. Still zoomed in on the phone's base, we hear the voice of the man answering off screen.  
  
Man - "Hello?"  
  
Tony - "Jack?"  
  
Cut to black screen, gold letters say, and voice of Tony Almeida reads -  
  
"The following takes place between the hours of 8:00 P.M. and 9:00 P.M." Screen shows the back of Jack Bauer as he talks on the phone. He is wearing jeans and a red buttoned light shirt.  
  
Jack - "Yeah this is Jack, who is this?"  
  
Screen splits, shows Tony on left side standing at desk next to phone  
  
Tony - "Tony Almeida."  
  
Jack turns around, we see his face, he isn't thrilled.  
  
Jack - "Tony. What do you want?"  
  
Tony - "I want you to come to CTU, I need to talk to you."  
  
Jack, chuckles and says - "What for?"  
  
Tony - "Well. Can I tell you in person?"  
  
Jack - "What's this about, Tony?"  
  
Tony - "It has to do with a situation. Please Jack, just hear me out."  
  
Jack doesn't say anything, he looks down at the phone's base. Then he says  
  
Jack - "Fine. When?"  
  
Tony, looks relieved - "Now, please."  
  
Jack, looks behind him, rubs his forehead and says - "Alright I'll be right there."  
  
He hangs up, and Tony's screen disappears. Jack walks to grab a light jacket next to the door, stops and shouts upstairs: "Hey Kim, I'll be back in a little while."  
  
Kim walks to the base of the stairs, she is wearing khakis and a white t- shirt.  
  
Kim - "Where are you going?"  
  
Jack - "Just have to take care of something real quick, I'll be back."  
  
Kim - "What about Kate?"  
  
Jack, pausing - "What about her?"  
  
Kim - "She'll be over in an hour, do I have to entertain her?"  
  
Jack - "I'll be back before then, besides, she's OUR friend, try to treat her with a little more respect."  
  
Kim - "No, dad, she's YOUR friend. Be careful, ok?"  
  
Jack smiles, - "Yeah."  
  
He walks out the door.  
  
Cut to split screen, bottom shows clock. Shot is of a private jet over the dark ocean on the right. On the left shows inside the cabin, a close up of a man's hand with a cigarette in it, smoke floating up. Camera follows the cigarette up to the man's lips. His face is cannot be seen, due to the darkness of the night. The screens become a full screen, and the shot is of another man, walking to the man smoking at the table. This man is carrying a phone, he places it down, bows and exits. The smoking man picks up the phone, which is a cell phone, and hits one button. We hear the phone dial fast as the smoking man puts the phone to his ear. As the camera pans around the man's body, we notice hanging next to the table is a black robe, the same black robe worn by the man in Tokyo. This is that very man, who was in the warehouse of worshipers. We cannot, however, hear who is on the other line.  
  
Smoking man, in perfect English - "It is nearly time, I trust everyone is in place there? Good. Remember, we are not looking for anything big at this point. We are just going to send a message. Yes, then Los Angeles. My friend, what you and yours are doing will be looked at as heroic by Hiroheema, His Excellency. Yes, I will see you in paradise too, my friend."  
  
Cut to black screen, digital clock in the middle loudly ticks  
  
8:11:43 - 8:11:44 - 8:11:45  
  
-24-  
  
Split screens: 3. Far left shows Jack from dashboard cam, driving. Middle shows Juan and Joe walking towards black van, far left shows Tony walking up his stairs. Clock in the middle says 8:15:21 - 8:15:22 - 8:15:23  
  
Cut to Juan and Assassin Joe, they stop at the front of the van. From behind, the sound of a door opens from the house, camera pans to the front door,  
  
the pretty Hispanic woman who answered the door says - "Where are you going, Juan?"  
  
Juan - "Just stay right there, baby, I'm going to talk to Joe."  
  
Juan gets quiet and serious now.  
  
Juan - "Listen, we have no idea where this Z guy is, but he knows. He might know everything. He needs to be taken out, now."  
  
Joe - "How am I supposed to find him?"  
  
Juan - "Go to Hal Mann's house, bust in, look around. And you better hope you find his whereabouts there man, or you're out of luck."  
  
Joe - "What is that supposed to mean?"  
  
Juan - "No extra money."  
  
Joe stares him down a bit, then - "Fine. I'll call you when I get there. Give me the address."  
  
Cut to CTU, Tony on the phone in his office.  
  
Tony, reading file over into phone - "Put out an APB for NHSA Agent Herald Mann, age fifty-five. Six foot about two hundred pounds. Drives silver 2003 Ford Focus. I want a check within five-mile ratios of CTU Los Angeles headquarters."  
  
Tony hangs up the phone, and heads down the stairs. Michelle stops him.  
  
Michelle - "Where are you going?"  
  
Tony comes close to her and says quietly - "I'm going to get Jack Bauer official clearance. And temporarily re-instate him. Again."  
  
Michelle - "Why?"  
  
Tony - "Well, I'm hoping he takes the case, the one with the Japanese scientist."  
  
Michelle - "But why Jack?"  
  
Tony - "He knows this area better than all of our agents put together. But mainly because I have a feeling this is going to turn out to be more serious than Chappelle is leading on. He's the best of the best, proven that twice over."  
  
Cut to SETI in Arizona  
  
Shot shows John Owens spin around in his chair as Alan Miller enters the control room.  
  
Miller - "There is only six of you down here, on the night where we have gotten the strongest signal in history. What is screwed up about that picture? Well to answer your question, I've called in the full workforce who is out on holiday leave. In the meantime, I have an announcement. It is 11:23 P-M on the East Coast, which means we are just about forty minutes away from President Prescott's New Years address. This means, I will be going public with our announcement ten minutes before the President comes on. Which means I will be making the call at midnight Eastern time, nine our time, to Fox News. With any luck, we will become the biggest news story, far bigger than even the President. So, at nine I suggest you all mingle to the TV in the press room. That'll be all, get to work."  
  
Cut to Owens, shaking his head in disgust.  
  
Cut to the Motel.  
  
Izumi walks up to one of the men, and speaks in Japanese, we see the subtitles - "Here it is." Izumi removes the cylinder from inside his coat carefully, the 'suspicious music' plays quickly then ends. Close up as we see the cylinder being handed over to the other man. He unscrews it, and as he does, says (subtitles) - "Fantastic. Come, let me show you the map." They walk further into the room, to a table, in the middle of the table the camera zooms in to a map of downtown Los Angeles.  
  
Cut to black screen clock, ticks loudly: 8:28:49 - 8:28:50 - 8:28:51  
  
-24-  
  
Split screens: 3  
  
Left screen shows Jack taking a right from the outside view, middle screen Joe driving from the dash cam, right screen shows Tony walking to the entrance, in his hand he has ID tags. Clock in the middle ticks loudly: 8:32:14 - 8:32:15 - 8:32:16  
  
Cut to Joe, dash cam. In the passenger seat is Assassin #2, he is silent. Outside cam shows Joe pull the black van with a dented left headlight pull into a home. It's Agent Mann's house. He stops, and gets out, motioning for Assassin #2 to stay in the van. He shuts the van door and begins to walk up to the door. For the heck of it, he tries the knob. The door opens easily.  
  
Joe, whistles - "Wow, just come on in, right?"  
  
Camera shows from inside, Joe enter the house and shut the door. All the lights are on, and he walks over to a desk to the far left of the room. He begins rummaging through some papers. He decides to go faster, so he starts scanning pages and throwing them on the floor. After that pile, he rips open a drawer and lets the papers fall out on the floor, then he squats to rummage through those. Cut to Jack, pulling into parking garage. He is now at CTU. He stops, turns off his car, and opens the door to exit. Camera cuts to behind Jack, and follows him as he enters CTU. Cut to Tony, waiting by entrance desk. Sees Jack, they shake hands.  
  
Jack - "How's the ankle?"  
  
Tony - "Never better. Ok Jack here is your clearance, and I've reinstated you."  
  
Jack - "What?"  
  
Tony - "Just listen to what we have to show you, and then decide if that was a mistake."  
  
Jack - "Tony for no reason what-so-ever am I going to go out in the field tonight, I thought maybe I was coming here to give some advice or something."  
  
Tony - "Just follow me, Jack, ok?"  
  
Tony starts to walk away, and Jack at first doesn't follow but then does.  
  
Back to Joe at Mann's house. He has made a mess of the desk, and has found nothing. He wipes sweat from this brow as he looks around the house. Spots the hallway and starts walking down that. At the end of the hallway, he sees a room that looks like an office.  
  
Joe - "And Bingo was his name-o."  
  
He enters the office, yet another desk is in there, along with a filing cabinet. Joe spots the phone number Rolodex on the desk, heads right for that. He takes a seat in the desk chair, and the camera shows a shot over his shoulder. He goes right for the end.  
  
Joe - "Zimmerman, Zellers. Z!"  
  
Camera close up of the card that says, just plainly "Z" on it. There is a phone number, that is it. He rips it out of the Rolodex and hurries out of the room.  
  
Back to CTU, Jack is following Tony into the main room. People recognize Jack and start clapping. Jack ignores it. Michelle comes running up to them with a folder in her hand.  
  
Michelle Dessler - "We just got word of a murder down Olm Street, not more than two miles from here. Witness says it was Mafia style, right outside in the street. Car was forced off the road, witness says he saw everything."  
  
Tony - "Alright we need someone over there now."  
  
Jack - "Why?" Tony - "Follow me."  
  
Michelle goes back to her desk, and Jack follows Tony up the stairs.  
  
Split screen, left shows Jack entering office behind Tony, right shows Tony taking a seat at the edge of his desk. Full screen now.  
  
Tony - "An agent from Homeland Security called me a couple of hours ago and told me he received information about something big happening tonight. His name is Herald Mann, and he wouldn't tell me unless we were in person. He was on his way here at the time, and he's over an hour late."  
  
Jack - "You think someone got to him first?"  
  
Tony - "Looks like it. You want to go to Olm street and check it out?"  
  
Jack looks down at the floor, then around the room and says - "Damn it, Tony, this better be important."  
  
Tony - "Alright, we'll get you cleaned up and into uniform in no time. You know where the changing rooms are, call me when you get there."  
  
Jack gives Tony a mean look, and Tony smiles to loosen up the tension - "Oh and, Happy New Year."  
  
Cut to black screen, clock in the middle ticks loudly - 8:46:59 - 8:47:00 - 8:47:01  
  
-24-  
  
Split screens: 3  
  
Left shows Joe in Van, dial a cell phone. Middle shows Jack driving in his car. Screen on the right shows an elevated view of Times Square in New York. Clock in the middle ticks loudly: 8:51:14 - 8:51:15 - 8:51:16 Cut to Joe.  
  
Joe, dashcam, other man still in passenger seat, into cell - "Get a location for this number: 555-7320."  
  
He hangs up and puts the phone in his pocket.  
  
Cut to aerial view of Times Square, jam packed with on lookers and celebrators. Cut to ground view, screen splits five times: top left shows a skinny white man with a shaved head exit an apartment building, real bundled up, his breath can be seen coming out of his mouth as he walks into the crowd of people. Bottom left shows young white woman with black hair streaming from under a heavy winter hat; she too is exiting another apartment building and walking through the crowd. Bottom right shows another woman, blonde, bundled up and taking a left from a packed street, emerging near a security check point. Top right shows an Arabic man with a big winter hat on, he is real bundled up and is walking near a security checkpoint, just out of reach from Times Square. Middle shows yet another man, this one a black man with long dreadlocks. He is shivering slightly, as he walks into a pack of crowded people just outside the checkpoint.  
  
Cut to Arabic man meets up with blonde woman. All around them you can hear people blowing horns, streaming floating, and a few snow flurries.  
  
Arabic man, in Arabic accent - "I hate snow!"  
  
Blonde woman smiles, looks to her right as the black man comes up to her and puts his arm around her. We see a front view of the three, looking all around at the people in line to get onto Times Square, past this security checkpoint. They too are in line, as the shaved headed white man joins them, pulling out a cigarette. The young black haired woman follows behind  
  
Black haired woman - "Can I have a cigarette too?"  
  
He passes her one and lights it. The five of them are grouped together, in line, waiting to get to the security checkpoint.  
  
Blonde woman says to Arabic man - "Happy New Year." She then bursts into laughter. They all laugh.  
  
Over their heads, we can see from down the end of the street, the New Years Ball. It is small from this vantage point. The buildings around it have the clock on it, along with flashing lights.  
  
Cut to CTU Los Angeles, Jack is seen fully dressed in CTU uniform. He straps a holster around his belt and we see him stick a pistol in the hold. He looks at his watch, shakes his head, and exits the room.  
  
Cut back to the New York City celebration, our group of five.  
  
The huge crowd, half a million, begin to chant the countdown.  
  
Blonde - "Look! Twenty second until the New Year!"  
  
Black man - "Ready?"  
  
Camera goes from person to person, as they smile and shake their heads. Zoom into black man's sleeve, as something slides down and into his hand. Fast paced music starts.  
  
Crowd as a whole - "12 - 11 - 10"  
  
The five group together real tight, each of them now appear to have a handheld trigger in their hands, they start busting through the crowd towards the security checkpoint.  
  
Crowd - "9 - 8 - 7"  
  
The black man is in the lead, he bursts away from the group and heads left, into a pack of people. An NYPD officer notices this and breaks away after him, shouting - "HEY!" The Arabic man, holding the Blonde woman's hand, breaks away to the right. Another NYPD officer breaks away, gun drown.  
  
Crowd - "6 - 5 - 4"  
  
Brunette woman and shaved head man run directly into the check point, and the woman is grabbed by another cop. All at once the five push their hand held devices. Aerial shot of the security checkpoint area shows five simultaneous explosions, bodies flying in every direction, fire ripping through the crowd, burning people alive.  
  
Cut to black screen, clock ticks loudly in the middle:  
  
8:59:58  
  
8:59:59  
  
9:00:00  
  
Next week on "24"  
  
We see images of mayhem in New York in the aftermath, a woman bleeding from her forehead sitting in the street, children crying, smoke thick within the crowd, with a voice over of President Prescott - "At midnight local time, in New York City, five homicide bombers detonated themselves outside a main security checkpoint, in an apparent terrorist attack."  
  
Cut to scene with Jack driving, dash board cam shot, he is saying into a cell phone - "Tony, It's Jack. We are looking for a black van with a dented right front bumper and or headlight. Agent Mann's dead."  
  
Cut to a scene with someone kicking a door open, can't tell who  
  
-24- 


End file.
